NHL Marketing: Challenging the Blackhawks Dominance

The Hawks are a business school’s dream case study of transforming a team that played before a measly crowd of 5,000 into a sell-out sensation. Now other NHL teams are trying to take hockey marketing to the next level. To compete with the big three (pro baseball, football and basketball), they’re looking for even more innovative ways to connect with a loyal fan base through social media.

Pittsburgh is unveiling a pilot project allowing fans in their new stadium to watch the game from six different angles on their cell phone, including instant replays. During intermissions ticket holders will also be allowed to text messages that will appear on the giant scoreboard and vote on the stars of the game.

Mobile applications can also promote ticket sales. Juniper Research predicts that 2 billion sporting or event tickets will be purchased using mobile devices this year – and that number is expected to rise to 15 billion in just 4 years.

The Blackhawks are on their way to defending their Stanley Cup title, but can they win the battle for sports marketing dominance not only within their own league, but also in a town better known for the da Bears and da Bulls?